A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words: a Poetry Workshop with BAC Artist-in-Residence E’mon Lauren – In Partnership with the Hudson Valley Writers Center

A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words: a Poetry Workshop 
with BAC Artist-in-Residence E’mon Lauren
In partnership with Hudson Valley Writers Center

Location: Hudson Valley Writers Center (300 Riverside Drive, Sleepy Hollow, NY) 
Date & Time: Friday September 25, 5-6PM (before The People’s Mic!)
Ages: 18+
FREE Community Program. Registration encouraged for workshop.
Walk-ins welcome until we reach capacity. 

Join BAC Artist-in-Residence E’mon Lauren for a Ekphrastic poetry workshop prior to Hudson Valley Writers Center’s “The People’s Mic”.

Ekphrasis is the old practice of making one art form answer another. A poem written for a painting. A poem written for a photograph. The image speaks first, and the writing answers back. In this 60-minute workshop we get into what ekphrasis is, where it comes from, and why writers keep returning to it. Then we try it ourselves, in poems. No writing experience necessary and nothing to prepare.  

You leave with a poem that started as an image. Then stay after for The People’s Mic, hosted by Westchester Poet Laureate, Phylisha Villanueva. See below for info on The People’s Mic. 

Ages 18+
Bring a notebook and your favorite writing utensil. 

Facilitated by E’mon Lauren, Chicago’s first Youth Poet Laureate and Bethany Arts Community Fall 2026 Artist-in-Residence.  More about E’mon and our Fall Multidisciplinary Residency below!

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The People’s Mic (following A Picture is Worth 1000 Words)
Friday September 25, 7-9PM (doors open at 6:30PM)
Hudson Valley Writers Center (300 Riverside Drive, Sleepy Hollow, NY) 

The People’s Mic is more than an open mic; it’s a community gathering rooted in care, creativity, and connection, hosted by Westchester Poet Laureate Phylisha Villanueva. Join us for an evening where poets, storytellers, and musicians share space and truth. Whether you have a poem in your notes app, a song in your chest, or want to listen and be nourished by community, this space is for you. No experience required. No perfection expected, just presence. Centered on respect, expression, and collective care. 

ABOUT HUDSON VALLEY WRITERS CENTER
Hudson Valley Writers Center brings writers and readers together to celebrate the essential art of the written and spoken word. The Center fosters a vibrant literary arts community that supports and empowers writers and readers of diverse ages, talents and backgrounds at every stage of their creative development. 

Learn more about Hudson Valley Writers Center here!
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ABOUT E’MON
E’mon Lauren is a poet, performer, and educator from Chicago’s West Side. She is the city’s first Youth Poet Laureate and the author of COMMANDO (Haymarket Books), with work published in Poetry Magazine, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2: Black Girl Magic, and Sixty Inches From Center. For over a decade she has contributed poetry and cultural journalism to South Side Weekly and performed across Chicago, including at the Poetry Foundation, the Chicago Cultural Center, and Millennium Park. She is the creator and executive producer of The Real Hoodwives of Chicago, a podcast and talk show centering Black femme voices. Her work is rooted in hood womanism, a framework that centers Black femme life on Chicago’s West and South Sides. Her debut full-length collection, Finesse, is forthcoming.

This Community Program “A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words,” is a part of BAC’s Annual Fall Multidisciplinary Residency. As part of a residency at BAC, we ask each artist to build and facilitate a Community Program. Community Programs are a unique opportunity for both artists-in-residence and our local community to gather, engage, and be in conversation with one another through art. Community Programs are free engagements open to the public and/or in collaboration with a local community partners. 

Learn more about this year’s Fall Multidisciplinary Residency here!

BAC’s 2026 Fall Multidisciplinary Residency is made possible with support from New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor’s office and the New York State Legislature, Westchester County Board of Legislators, ArtsWestchester and Westchester County Government.